Jazzy Jeff Remembers 'Summertime,' the Ultimate Song of the Summer

And how it solidified the Fresh Prince's place in history

We're going to go ahead and say that if you make it through summer without hearing "Summertime," DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's 1991 hit — well, something went wrong with your summer. The Grammy-winning song was everywhere in the early '90s and has since become symbolic of the changing of the seasons, warmer weather, cookouts, those first days at the pool. You likely have fond memories of this song, regardless of when you were born. Nowadays, publications, websites, Twitter-critics, your friends, and relatives all engage in a debate over what's the "song of the summer," but let's be honest: It'll always be hard to beat out the now-classic "Summertime." Here Jazzy Jeff recalls some memories of how it went down and the summer madness that their hit prompted.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

This was the beginning of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Will kept saying how it's crazy because it's Christmas and it's 78 degrees and there's no snow. As the seasons break, and it started to get warm outside, he'd call and say, "It's 72 degrees in Philly, everybody's out in short sleeves!" Being from the East Coast, you see the transformation of people from the winter months to the summer months. Some people got fat, some people exercised. Some of the girls who weren't good-looking come out real good-looking, some of the girls who were good-looking come out better-looking. That feeling you get, anybody from the East Coast completely understands it. That's where the inspiration came from. That was the first time that either one of us was not in Philly during that time to know it's something you'd miss. We started talking about it. Just the seasonal change, getting excited about summer.

Will [Smith], he'll tell you, 'I can write an album in a day if I have all the concepts.'"

I didn't actually make "Summertime." It was two guys from Chicago [producers Hula and K. Fingers]. We would make a bunch of records and go to Chicago and work with some of the Jive producers and different people. The idea came first. One thing about Will, he'll tell you, "I can write an album in a day if I have all the concepts." The concept of "Summertime" was born and then they pulled up Kool & the Gang's "Summer Madness." It was the perfect marriage.

The music collectors know that that's Kool & the Gang. They know that there's a live version of "Summer Madness." There's a whole lot of Kool & the Gang before they got to "Celebration." The music guys who love Kool & the Gang hate "Celebration."

I remember [Will] calling me and I was pissed I couldn't be there. I remember him calling me and saying, "Yo, I wrote this song about what we talked about." He played me this song and you know what the weird thing is about making records — you don't ever love the records you make. I think it's because you hear them over and over and that weird artist insecurity creeps in.

Once I heard it and the mix, I did a mix on it. Your insecurity always gets to a point where you don't know. We came off a humongous record with He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper and had a subpar record with And in This Corner.... People usually don't have that kind of a bounce back.

One of the things that we did was unprecedented: Will got the Fresh Prince show to air the video at the end of one of the episodes. No one had ever done that. That opened up the song to an audience way beyond Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.

We went on this very intensive promotional tour, which was weird. I think people started looking at it like "These guys are on television, they don't do that kind of stuff." It was almost like everything people didn't think we would do, we wanted to do.

One of the music trade shows was in the spring. I remember bumping into Tom Joyner. He was "The Fly Jock." He had the morning show in Dallas and he'd get on a plane and fly to Chicago and he had the afternoon show in Chicago. He'd do this every day. He's pretty much the biggest radio jock in the country. I walked up to him and said, "Hey, man," and he said, "Oh, hey, how you guys doing?" I said, "We got a record that I think is going to be really good in the summer. Just a really good record." And I remember him looking me in my face and I got that sad artist look from him. Kinda like "Everybody says that." You don't pay attention if everybody says that. And I was that guy to him. He was like, "Oh, man, that's great, I can't wait to hear it." And he walked away. I was like, "Wow, I just really got that look." The irony of going on the promo tour — we went to Chicago when "Summertime" was really starting to heat up. And he said on the radio, "I remember seeing you." I said, "You gave me that look." He apologized on the radio and told the whole story.

The way the song came out is that it was so much of a natural feeling of how the season makes you feel. We didn't want a contrived video. I know you have to have a storyline, but what we really want is authentic people. There might have been three extras in that entire video and everyone else was friends and family. We hired a caterer and we went out to the Plateau in [Fairmount Park, Philadelphia] and had music and basically had a cookout. I really didn't like the second day when we were riding around Philly. We were riding on the Parkway on a flatbed truck — those were the shots where we were going past the art museum. We shot that at rush hour. Not everybody in the city of Philadelphia was happy that we were making the "Summertime" video. You got some of the thumbs-ups, "Oh my God, hometown guys," and you got some of the people saying, "Get the fuck outta here."

You're driving down the street, and every car coming by you is playing that record."

We never had that anthem before. How you know that anthem is when you're driving down the street, and every car coming by you is playing that record. It becomes the cliche. "I'm at the BBQ and this is the record the DJ has to play five times."

I don't think it really resonated until it started to get warm again. That first warm day, every DJ on the radio station grabbed "Summertime" and said, "Oh, it's almost that time." When they dropped it again, I was like, "Oh, cool, they brought it back."

I felt 'O.P.P.' was a great record. I felt we didn't deserve to win for 'Summertime' that year."

I wasn't sure if we were going to win [the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1992]. We were up against Naughty by Nature's "O.P.P." I felt "O.P.P." was a great record. I felt we didn't deserve to win for "Summertime" that year. That very much could've been artist insecurity. But in hindsight, with the longevity of "Summertime," maybe we did deserve it.

It was a shock to win the Grammy. And you're real appreciative. Any time you have accolades like that, it's very easy to look at it like "This might be my last."

With record companies, you have good times and bad times. I remember being on a record company when a record company was in an apartment building and watching it grow into a skyscraper in downtown Manhattan. You see everything change. You see, unfortunately, the artistic side of it turn into "As long as you can generate money." We had those times when it was all about the art and we had those times when it was like, "Okay, you guys didn't sell too much," and you start to feel like they don't believe in you. I think after "Summertime," they looked at it like it was a fluke. We had been with Jive for so long, but this would never happen again.

A song like that generates income in multiple ways. It's a song and you can do a show at the Budweiser Superfest and somebody will pay you $30,000. Sometimes it won't come in the form of royalties, but having a really big song like that brings notoriety, endorsements, all those things.

No one expected it to be the record of the summer, win awards. It was unprecedented, especially in hip-hop. You don't get awards and accolades and then come back in four years and do the same thing.